# @df: Merkle showed contempt for devs building on Farcaster's "protocol"

Source: https://farcaster.xyz/df/0x2ffbf46a
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/df-Merkle-showed-contempt-for-devs-building-on-Farcasters-protocol?index=0x6994eeca34cf049d39acd3c4d2e6baa19d81982774371669269992e1090f2360413b9694
Submitted by @timdaub.eth on 2026-02-17 UTC, 2 upvotes, 0 comments

## Summary

The author argues that Merkle showed contempt for third-party developers who believed they were building on a neutral protocol, and that this followed the standard Silicon Valley platform playbook of calling a system "sufficiently decentralized" while keeping meaningful leverage centralized. The piece cites a pattern of reversals, including a claim that the protocol was decentralized while developers could not run a node, and a promise to open-source the app that had not been fulfilled a year later. On Neynar, which acquired Farcaster after the Merkle team, the author says the company appears to be focusing on mini-app and agent developers rather than stronger protocol guarantees, though decentralizing channels and reinstating third-party developer calls are noted as steps in the right direction. The author also supports Cassie's fork as a form of dissent.

## Article

The Merkle team repeatedly showed contempt for third-party developers who believed they were building on a neutral protocol. In reality, it was the standard Silicon Valley platform playbook: call it “sufficiently decentralized,” while keeping the meaningful leverage centralized.

The pattern looked like this:
“We’ll label this a decentralized protocol, but you can’t run a node, pay a service provider instead.”
“We'll open-source the app… (a year later, no open sourcing)”
And a bunch of similar reversals and constraints that all point the same direction.

I’ve been giving the Neynar team time to enact what they want post-acquisition (they’re likely swamped with new responsibilities and infra to maintain) before deciding how I interpret their intentions toward third-party developers like myself. It mostly looks like business as usual: a shift in focus toward mini-app/agent developers, not a move toward stronger protocol guarantees or developer neutrality (though decentralizing channels is at least a step in the right direction, and so is reinstating third party dev calls). My jury is still out - I'm giving them a bit of time to find their feet.

On Cassie’s fork:

I support experimentation, and I support the right to fork; especially as a form of dissent against platforms that market themselves as protocols to win developer goodwill. I genuinely hope this fork contributes to making Farcaster a fairer place for any developer to build on, and I'll try any app that uses it.